


Rey Palpatine

by salamanderinspace



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark Reylo, Dark Side Positivity, Dark Side Rey, Empress Rey, Exegol, Gen, Moral Ambiguity, Post-Canon, Present Tense, Rey Palpatine, Sith Empire, Sith Rey, Sith Rituals, The Dark Side of the Force, ben solo whomst i dont know her, but more politics than reylo, dark side positive, erybody dark, rey says yes to joining with palpatine, sometimes i write fic just to create shortcuts to tags on my dashboard, thats it thats the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salamanderinspace/pseuds/salamanderinspace
Summary: Rey agrees to kill Palpatine and become one with the Sith.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey
Comments: 12
Kudos: 130





	1. Make the Sacrifice

Rey pilots Luke's X-Wing towards Exegol. There is time until she will cut through the atmosphere, time for Poe and the Resistance to catch up to her. She spends it in a sort of half-meditation. For--not the first time--she sorts through her head, trying to separate the Light and Dark. 

Images flicker. The shot of lightning from her hand, exploding the transport she thought Chewie was in. Light or dark? Definitely dark. But a mistake. An accident.

Master Skywalker saying "you went straight to the dark." That had been an accident, too. It had seemed like a place where there were answers.

Using the Force to throw Finn to his back while she fought Kylo Ren on the Endor Moon. Light or dark? Dark, maybe. It was hard to know. She'd been swept up in the moment. She was trying to protect him. Was Darkness due to action or intent? Emotion or consequences?

The other fights with Kylo Ren. The anger. The hate. Dark, maybe. But healing him? Was that Light? Or was it Dark to heal a murderer, a monster? If that serpent in the cave killed someone, would the blood be on her hands?

Training with Leia. Light. But she'd been ferocious, swept up in it, and she'd cut down a tree that fell on BB-8. More accidental Darkness.

Using the Jedi Mind Trick on stormtroopers. Light. Definitely. It came from a place of calm reasoning. From necessity, not emotion. Except maybe that first time, when she was so desperate to escape.

Shooting stormtroopers on Takodana. Light. But that came from fear, too. Did that make it dark?

The visions where she sat on the throne of the Sith...definitely dark. But it was just a vision. She would never. Right? She would never... Her family would be ashamed, disgusted. Not just her parents, who died at Palpatine's hands, but Finn and Chewie and BB-8 and Han Solo and Leia and even Poe. She hadn't known them for very long, but they were on the Right Side. The Light Side. Master Skywalker's side.

Right? It was the right side, wasn't it?

It was all running together. It didn't help that, over the last year, she'd been connected to Kylo Ren in the deepest way possible, hearing his thoughts. His reasoning. He'd made the point that the New Republic was responsible for dystopian states like Jakku, for hunger and slavery all across the galaxy. He'd shown her some First Order programs--education programs for the Stormtroopers, healthcare, holonet access for planets that had none. The economic booms around sites of resource extraction. The regulation of hyperspace lanes. The First Order was making changes all across the galaxy, doing things better and differently than the Empire.

But they were monsters. They'd shot at her and Finn. They killed people. Kylo Ren abducted her. 

Master Skywalker standing over sleeping Ben Solo with an active lightsaber. That was Dark. Definitely dark. Or was it Light?

She'd grown up with stories about Luke Skywalker. The mystical Jedi, the magic warriors that enforced peace and justice throughout the galaxy. _Murderers and abductors,_ Kylo had said. _A failure,_ Master Skywalker had said. He'd taught her that the Force didn't belong to the Jedi. That there was a balance.

But then he'd told her to go fight Palpatine. If you don't, he'd said, the Jedi will end.

_If there's supposed to be a balance,_ she thought, _then the dark isn't evil._ Everything she'd grown up hearing about Palpatine--was it true? Was he evil? Wasn't he a genocidal monster?

Rey had killed people before. On Jakku she'd killed those who tried to attack her, or steal from her. She'd never thought twice about that. She'd even joined the Resistance, knowing that she'd have to kill for them. Something about Palpatine, though, something about killing her own family--it feels like murder. Maybe because she is coming for him where he sleeps. Maybe because she's never heard his side of the story.

Such is Rey's disorientation as she speeds toward Exegol. 

\--- 

"The time has come! With your hatred you will take my life, and you will ascend!" declares Palpatine. He has just finished explaining his plan; Rey will kill him, and she will become Empress. All the Sith will flow into her body. They will become one.

Rey is unsure. She has longed for family, for community, for power. But not this power. "All you want is for me to hate, but I won’t. Not even you."

"Weak, like your parents," mutters Palpatine.

"My parents were strong. They saved me from you!" Rey answers. This, she can hold onto. Her parents death. Vengeance. She won't lose track of that.

"Your master, Luke Skywalker, was saved by his father. The only family you have here ... is me," Palpatine reminds her.

At this, Rey turns her eyes to the sky. She thinks immediately of her family within the Resistance--Finn, Poe, Chewie. She can sense them overhead, engaged in a great battle with the Star Destroyers of the Final Order. They are losing. Shots are fired and narrowly evaded; ventral canons are hot. It is only a matter of time.

"They don’t have long," Palpatine says, as if reading her thoughts. "No one is coming to help them. And you are the one who led them here. Strike me down! Take the throne. Reign over a new empire, and the fleet will be yours. Only you have the power to save them. Refuse, and your new family dies."

Palpatine is not her family. Her true family is in deadly peril.

Rey's heart sinks, dropping through her stomach as if it were a freezing void. She knows she doesn't have the power to save the Resistance. There is only one chance; if she were Empress, she could order the Star Destroyers to yield. The power to save her family--her chosen family--is within her grasp. 

She nods, subtly. Still unsure.

That's when she sees him. Ben. She sees him through the Force. He approaches the temple on Exegol, just himself alone--without mask or cape or lightsaber--and she can feel his intention. He is prepared to sacrifice himself for her. "Ben," she whispers, and she feels his answer--an inimical pulse. A rejection. He is still uncomfortable being "Ben," though he is willing to wear the name if that is the only man she wants. Still, it is an agony. The boy who was neglected by his parents, the boy they'd loved conditionally and tried to so hard to change, the boy Luke Skywalker had tried to murder in his sleep--he has chosen not to be that boy. He has grown and come into power and USED that power to ascend. Rey sees now in his mind how liberating such a journey felt, how important. Yet he is prepared to forsake the Dark Side for her. And he cannot go against the memories of his parents any more. They haunt him. They define him. He has given up, sunk into despair and desperation. He's come unarmed to Exegol because he craves death.

Rey feels angry then. He should have grown up with his parents' love, just as she should have. Instead they were both pawns in an old war, a war that began before she was born. She doesn't want that for Kylo. Maybe he'd been right to try to kill the past, maybe that was the only way. Maybe they can both use the Dark Side to break the cycle. Through the Force, she sends Kylo a summary of her intentions. She feels his relief. "So you're finally starting to see," he replies.

Rey lifts her lightsaber and stares down Palpatine, who gazes at her with something like warmth and fondness. "I'm ready," she tells him.

Kylo enters then, his Knights behind him. "I've come to witness the ritual," he announces. "I surrender myself to the Sith!"

"My boy," Palpatine purrs. Then, he lifts his head, sightless eyes rolling around the arena as he seems to shudder with breath. "Forever may we reign. Make the sacrifice!" 

A thrumming, murmuring sort of chant goes through the temple. Rey clutches the lightsaber so hard her knuckles turn white. Her breathing is fast and deep. Lightning strikes nearby; a gong rings out. She slashes through the air. Palpatine turns to vapor inside his robes.

There is a long pause. Rey smells smoke. Then the chanting erupts again. Rey is flooded with memories. Ancient, ancestral memories of Sith-before-they-were-Sith, when they were merely fallen Jedi. It was only natural to experiment, to explore the Force and all its corners, even the ones darkened by anger and hatred. The dark was part of balance. The Jedi who'd taken that path--who'd even dared to look at it too closely--were exiled, persecuted. For centuries a fascistic Jedi Order dominated the galaxy, an executive branch of a government that made some wealthy and others slaves. She saw memories of that government--Palpatine's memories. Stagnation in the senate. Privilege and corruption in the Republic, if it could even be called a Republic. The truth of it was contrary to everything Rey had heard, all the legends of that golden time. "It was only golden for some," Palpatine's voice echoed in her ears. "For others, it was a desert."

The history overwhelmed her, nearly knocked her down. The planet the Sith were exiled to was harsh, their culture violent. "We were never pacifists," Palpatine narrated, as image after image washed over her. "We wanted safety. We wanted rights. We thought we should get them by any means necessary. We were sick of the social order, the Jedi Order, the establishment, sick in our souls."

Rey is certain now. When she ascends to take the throne, she does so with absolute confidence. She will set things right. The Sith are chanting; Kylo and his knights are kneeling. "Empress Palpatine," he says, "what now?"


	2. Liberty Revived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Compeltely self indulgent space politics.

Rey sits in the council chamber on Coruscant. It has been outfitted in a manner befitting a Sith: black stone, sconces burning with flame, and a long, ruin-covered table in the center of the room. There are six chairs and they are all occupied with Rey's closest advisors. Sheev Palpatine does not need a chair, but he is present; he is in her mind, every waking hour, sharing her body. Sometimes--rarely--he takes control, especially when Rey is unequipped to conduct command. Luckily, at this point, Rey and her grandfather have similar agendas. They must stabilize the new Empire. "Finn, Poe. Where are we?"

"Hyperspace lans are open, per your orders," Poe reports. "Commerce is flowing freely, even the spice trade. Word is out about decriminalization."

"The Peacetrooper program is going over with flying colors," Finn adds. "We've ceased forced conscriptions, obviously, and are accepting new recruits on a volunteer only basis. Plenty of the First Order's Stormtroopers wanted to stay on. We're building bridges and roads on poorer planets and restoring the shipping ports everywhere that needs it. Still taking tickets for new projects; we've developed a public ticketing system on the holonet."

"Excellent," Rey answers. Palpatine is pleased at this news as well. Free trade and infrastructure were major concerns for him. "Threepio, Chewie," Rey moves her attention to them next. "What's the status on the new Senate?"

"Various planets have elected and appointed their representatives, and they are preparing to meet with in the next cycle," Threepio says. Chewie growls an agreement. "Unfortunately there are a fair number of despots and dictators among the bunch."

"Let them know we'll reject any representatives that don't actually represent their populations," Rey said, and she felt a surge of approval from Palpatine. _"Don't let anyone take too much power,"_ he murmurs. _"Always, you are in control."_ "Rose, tell me about the demilitarization."

"The recycling plants are up and running," she says. "We've accepted our first shipment of guns and weapons. Ships are being re-outfitted for passengers and other kind of freight."

At this, Palpatine stirs unhappily. _"You're going to lose your grasp on the galaxy,"_ he whispers in Rey's ear. _"There are threats uncounted waiting for you."_ Rey registers the warning, intending to consider it later. She moves on. "Lord Ren," she calls, "what do you have to report?"

"My Knights have all chosen apprentices," he says. "We have put the word out that we are available to train adult Force Users in the noble ways of the Sith."

"Good, good," Rey feels herself say. It's always eerie when that happens, but she is getting used to it. "And the hospitals here on Coruscant?"

"All staffed with Force Healers," he informs her. "Bacta usage is down 20%."

"It is important to conserve finite resources," Rey says, though she is not sure if this is her thought. It's all running together. When the disorientation is too much, she retires to meditate on a thought that brings clarity: what would Leia do? It's not always what she choses, but it keeps her internal compass pointed in familiar directions.

"Empress, about the matter we tabled at the last meeting," Lord Ren says, interrupting her thoughts. "The First Order officers. We continue to receive reports of them going into hiding. Should I follow up?"

"No," she says, with authority. "I am still set on amnesty. As long as I am Empress, our prisons will be empty." Palpatine does not agree with this decision, but he respects it. "You'd have greater argument from the Princess of Alderaan than from me," he reminds her. Rey knows this, but she is certain anyway. The remnants of the First Order are no threat to her. She has the Force.

Rey stands. "I thank you all for your service," she says. She dismisses the meeting.

It's going to be a long road. At least she doesn't walk it alone.


End file.
